


Harry Potter and the Magical Portraits

by blake17



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Gen, Hogwarts Eighth Year, M/M, Past Character Death, Post-Battle of Hogwarts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-02-22 12:43:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13167174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blake17/pseuds/blake17
Summary: 'He's up to something. I know he is. He's Malfoy. He has to be. I check my map again and search for his name.He's in the astrology tower.And he's not alone. Hermione is there.'Edit: I’m actually changing the story guys. I should have the rewritten first chapter up tonight or tomorrow. Overall it’s gonna end up being similar to what I originally planned but the journeys gonna be a bit different. Thank y’all!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I changed the first chapter. I kind of rearranged the flow of the story so yeah.... this is now a thing. If you like it or have anything to say about it, go ahead and comment below. I'm gonna try to update at least every two weeks. I'll do my best. And I might even be able to upload some art pieces that go along with it.

The painting was beautiful. A forest charmed to have a stag weave its way through the growth. Thick crowds of trees and dark shadows reminded me of The Forbidden Forest and it sent a chill up my spine. The heavy brushstrokes and the long gaze the deer gave before disappearing at the edge of the canvas was captivating. It wasn't as carefully made as some of the other paintings that hung in the castle, but that just gave it more life.

"Mr. Potter." Healer Moore looked a bit concerned. Had I been staring at that painting for long? "I lost you there for a moment."

"Uh, sorry." Settling back into my seat, I glanced back over to the painting one last time. "What were we talking about?"

"You were saying how you'd had another nightmare last night." I ran my hands over the legs of my trousers.

"Oh yeah. I guess it was like the others."

"Nothing distinguishing this one from the previous ones?" Shaking my head would be very easy.

"It-it felt like there was someone else there."

"Did it feel like they were trying to cause you harm?"

"Yes." Wait. "No. I'm not sure. I never saw him, just FELT him."

"Him," she asked. The quill started scratching against the levitated parchment. Had that meant something?

"It could have been a girl," I tell her.

"Was there anything else?" Her eyes are on me, too sharp. My mouth opened. I'm cut off by the buzzer and let nothing but a sigh escape. "I'm sorry but our time is up for today. I'll see you again at the same time next week. Remember what we've discussed and I hope you have a good day." I stand and nod towards her as she overlooks the notes she'd taken during our session.

The door squeaks when it opens and makes a loud click when it closes. There's a couple of other students seated in the waiting room. I can feel their eyes on my back when I begin to sprint out of the room, headed towards the Quidditch Field. Pulling the miniaturized broom out of my pocket, it only takes a wave of my wand before I'm flying through the air. I focus on the going as fast as I can muster. Keeping my balance while taking sharp turns and attempt new tricks is all I think about until the sun starts to go down.

I only notice how late it's gotten because it starts to get difficult to make out the castle in the darkness. I try to shake the numbness from my fingers as I rush to make it back to the dorm before curfew. The halls were mostly empty already; it was later than I thought. The fat lady smiles at me and I do my best to smile back. I don't think it's very convincing and I drop it.

"Pumpkin Juice." She swings open and Ron and Hermione are waiting for me just inside the entrance. Their quiet whispers stop, their eyes going wide when they see me. I ignore them, walking past them.

"Harry," Hermione calls after me.

"Hold up, Mate." Ron and Hermione run over to cut me off. "We waited up for you."

"Thanks, but you didn't have to." I know it comes out harsher than I mean.

"You missed supper. We thought you might want to head to the kitchens if you were hungry." I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes.

"No, thanks. I'm just really tired. I think I'm gonna head up to bed."

"Okay." Hermione sounded like she was forcing her light tone. I moved to walk past them. "How was your session?" I don't bother to turn around.

"Fine. Night." I start to climb the stairs but pause when I'm out of sight. Ron and Hermione had begun whispering again.

"We have to do something."

"Like what, 'Mione? You know he doesn't like talking about it."

"I don't know but we can't just do nothing. He isn't getting any better."

"He'll be okay. We've made it through worse."

"I know," she sighs. "Is he still having nightmares?" There's no reply but from the noise Hermione makes, I can only assume that Ron nodded. I continue up the stairs. Some of the other guys are already up there but no one says anything to me. I take my shoes off, toss my robe and sweater aside and slip into bed. I spell my curtains closed and cast a silencing charm. The sheets still feel cold. I know it's gonna be hours until I actually fall asleep but close my eyes and hope I only see darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so short and took such a long time to post. My laptop isn’t working and a few things have happened recently but I’ll do what I can. Hope you enjoy!

I constantly feel eyes on me and it makes my skin crawl. Everyone's eating dinner around me. I can't bring myself to participate as much as I used to besides a few conversations with Hermione and Ron. I don't do much else. In fact I've barely eaten anything. I'm just about to get out of my seat when I see Malfoy leave. He slips of the doors, no one takes any notice. He’d been sitting by himself at the very edge of the Slytherin table, quiet, like he’d been every meal time since we’d come back. Hermione stares after me.

“I’m gonna head back,” I tell them. They respond. I hear their voices but don’t understand the words. Malfoy’s all the way down the corridor by the time I’m out of the dining hall. I try my best to stay as far away as possible but keep my eyes on him. We only pass a handful of other students; three Ravenclaws exciting talking about their last test and a couple sniffing in an alcove. A herd of centaurs could stampede past and they’d be none the wiser. I lose him on a stairway. His stairs turn left and mine turn right and I curse to myself. My eyes still follows him and he turns his head and stares at me. There’s no sneer or jibe. He just stares until his staircase reaches his proper stop and he leaves. The gryffindor dorm isn’t too far away so I head that way. Luckily no one I know is inside so I quietly make my way up into my empty room. I pull the folded up parchment from underneath my pillow and sit on the edge of my bed.

”I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.” Ink spreads and winds across the pages. I go to where I lost him and find his name not too far away. He’s in a classroom, alone. The room itself isn’t labeled but it’s in the ‘Fine Arts Corridor’. I’d never been there, not having much talent nor interest and none of my classes being too close helped as well. 

There were voices down the stairs and I jumped into my bed as quickly as I could and drew my curtains around me. I whispered to the map and folded it back up and stuffed it under my pillow. I laid down as the voices made their way into the room. They quickly lowered and there was a long silence.

”Is he asleep?”

”Not sure.”

”Hey Harry,” Seamus questioned at louder than average tone that was followed by several “sushes”. I didn’t respond. They kept whispering.

”He’s sleeping,” Dean said.

”I hope so, he needs it.” That was Ron and I wanted to be angry. I really did but I could find it in me at the moment. I could figure out if I was angry at him or at these specific words or something else entirely. I was too tired.

They continued talking for awhile; quiet and easy to ignore. I ran my fingers over the soft parchment of the map below my pillow. I was gonna figure out what Malfoy was up to.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took forever!!

It was like an itch burning beneath my skin, a voice like a whisper in my ear that only I could hear. But it had been like that before, with the basilisk and the dreams in 6th year. There was something wrong and I had to figure it out before something bad happened. That’s how it worked.

Malfoy was by himself across the hall, reading, as he’d done for the past 40 minutes and it was driving me insane. There had been nothing suspicious since the night before when Malfoys dot snunk across my map. Unless of course, you counted it as suspicious that he hadn’t done anything. For 7 years, Malfoys life seemed to circle me as he made my life miserable. And now, nothing. No teasing. No misbehaving in class. He’s quietly sitting by himself during study period reading a bloody muggle book of all things.

It was all so... normal and I really didn’t know what to do with that. I didn’t deal with normal situations. Malfoys eyes scanned his pages back and forth. He hunched a bit more in his seat, secluding himself further. But then his eyes stopped, they stayed staring at the same spot for too long. And then they flashed up and connected to mine. 

My face was hot but I didn’t look away. Malfoy didn’t look mad as he stared at me. Confused maybe, but definitely not mad or even bothered. That in and of itself wasn’t normal and THAT was intriguing. 

“Harry,” I turned at the sound of my name. Hermione is staring at me a bit exasperated.

”What?”

”I said,” her voice was just a whisper. “You’ve been staring at Malfoy for 5 minutes.” 

“I have not,” I tried to defend myself. My eyes went back to Malfoy but his own had returned to the book. “That can’t be right.”

”True. You two were staring at each other for 5 minutes.” I rolled my eyes at her.

”Honestly, Harry, are you alright?”

”I’m fine,” I tell her. “Might need some more sleep.” She chuckled.

”Well I could have told you that.”

“You and Ron have been!”

“And it obviously isn’t helping,” she grew a bit more serious. “Are you sure you don’t want to talk about anything?”

“I really am fine. But am I the only one even bothering to watch Malfoy?”

“Why would we?” She seemed honestly confused.

“He was only a cunt to us for our entire hogwarts career. AND associated to the very dark lord who almost killed all of us.” Did she need anything else? He’d always been especially awful towards her because of her blood status.

”You can’t keep thinking like that.”

”What do you mean? I sure remember you being pretty anti-malfoy before today.” Her eyes got big.

“Have you talked to him since the war?”

”No? Not really.”

”I think he’s really trying to make up for everything he’s done.”

”You can’t just make up for being a nasty little brat for most of your life.”

”Trust me when I tell you, he’s different. He came to me not to long after the trial to apologize.”

”Apologize?” She pulled me closer, her voices dropped.

“He told me how his aunt had him in an imperial curse at the manner, how he knew it wouldn’t ‘fix’ anything but he wanted me to know that he was sorry that it happened and he’d had nightmares about it and he didn’t know what to do.”

”What did you do?”

”I was kind of mad at first to be honest, when he first approached me, but then he started talking to me and I forgave him and we discussed different sleeping potions that help with nightmares.”

”Wait! You just forgave him? Like that?”

”What would you prefer I do? Hold a grudge against him for something he couldn’t control and never get over it.”

“No, of course not, but-“

”But what,” She snapped. “I need to accept what happened and move on. Cherish those lost and never forget. But I am not going to just be a victim forever.” She stood, grabbed her books and left. A few nearby people turned to stare, having been aware that there had been some type of issue. And of course when I turn around to continue my vigil, Malfoy is gone too. 


End file.
